Ministry of Defence: Joint Working Arrangements

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Defence Estates and English Partnerships (EP) have marked their close working relationship by means of a joint working agreement. This framework document provides further guidance on the sale of surplus MoD property to EP in accordance with the latest government accounting rules.
	The agreement builds upon a number of recent transactions undertaken between both organisations and will allow them to work even closer together in the future to meet the department's disposal programme and help to deliver the objectives of the Sustainable Communities Plan.
	In particular, the document will ensure that MoD receives market value for any sales to EP and maintains market confidence.
	I am placing a copy of this document in the Library of the House.

Côte D'Ivoire

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The UK places the utmost priority on protecting its citizens whether at home or abroad. We are always prepared to deploy British forces to evacuate UK nationals should their lives be placed in jeopardy. In light of the deteriorating security situation in Côte d'Ivoire, a military reconnaissance team deployed earlier this week to assess the requirement to evacuate UK nationals. I wish to inform the House that, following this reconnaissance, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has requested British forces to undertake an evacuation of UK nationals and others over the next few days. Some 400 people are entitled to our protection.
	While I cannot give the House precise details of the mission for reasons of operational security, we have now established liaison teams in Abidjan, and at Accra in Ghana. Concurrently, we have ordered the deployment of the Spearhead Lead Company Group comprising Royal Gurkha Rifles personnel to assist with this evacuation. The company group is pre-positioning in Accra and will be on immediate notice to be called forward to support the evacuation in Abidjan. It is intended to support this evacuation with a number of RAF transport aircraft. In total this equates to a deployment of around 300 personnel.
	As an additional contingency we have redirected the landing platform dock HMS "Albion" towards Côte d'Ivoire, and reduced the notice to move for other force elements should they be required. We would expect the operation to last days, not weeks.
	Our ability to react quickly to the situation on Côte d'Ivoire is testament to the flexibility and capability of Britain's Armed Forces, and to the professionalism of British servicemen and women. The UK is working in close co-operation with international partners to monitor and respond to the situation in Côte d'Ivoire as it develops. In particular, we are working with the French and Ghanaians, who have offered significant enabling support to British forces.

Project Aquatrine

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The contract for Project Aquatrine package B, which covers the Ministry of Defence's estate in Scotland, has been awarded to Thames Water Nevis Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thames Water whose major partner will be Scottish Water.
	Project Aquatrine is one of the Government's leading and most significant public/private partnership (PPP) projects and will transfer the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the department's water and waste water assets and infrastructure throughout Great Britain to private sector providers. This project will enable the transfer of environmental risk to those in the private sector who are best placed to manage it and enable the Ministry of Defence to focus on its core activities. It is a 25-year arrangement worth £2.3 billion across three packages that cover the MoD's estate in Great Britain.
	Following a pre-commencement period, Thames Water Nevis Ltd in partnership with Scottish Water will commence services in March 2005.

MoD Police: Operational Report 2003–04

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Ministry of Defence Police operational report for the year 2003–04 is published today. After the introduction of Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, which gave the Ministry of Defence Police extended jurisdiction, recommendations were made by the House of Commons Defence Committee that an operational report should be presented annually to Parliament.
	A copy of the report has been placed in the Library of the House.